Spokane Story

All Right, so Alan King and I hit the course in Spokane for a preview about 3:30 in the afternoon. As we are running along, it gets comical. Heavy wet snow, temp is dropping, course is covered in slush, etc. At one point we just sort of start to laugh. The group ahead of us turns around to see what is so funny and we start to visit with them.

They turn out to be a team from Flagstaff, AZ (home of Northern Arizona University). When we say that we are from Montana, they say - "we have a guy on our team from Montana". Turns out it was Seth Watkins (Kalispell native and NAU alum). We visited with him a bit as we wrapped up our run.

[Bret Winegar (Kalispell native) and Ted Zderic were two other runners with Montana ties that competed; but, we didn't catch up to them during the weekend.]

So, there we are at the post-race party. Alan has had a couple (or 3 or 4 or more) of cold ones to celebrate the end of a the season. Sort of late during the night, I come upon him and Matt Winter visiting with Seth Watkins. After visiting for a couple more minutes Alan says - "How did Seth Watkins place?" About this time, Matt and I look at each other, thinking what the heck?

Then Alan says "You know, Seth Watkins - from Kalispell - how did he finish?" Well, Seth and I look at each other, then Seth looks at Matt, all the while we're all thinking - has Alan lost his mind?

Then Alan says "Seth, Seth Watkins, where did he place?" Finally, Matt says why don't you ask him yourself, he's standing right there. About this time, we can't hold the laughter in any longer.

Poor Alan, the beer was causing a problem with the messages getting from the brain to the mouth. He was thinking "Bret Winegar"; but, what was coming out was "Seth Watkins". Knowing that Seth knew Bret, he was trying to find out if Seth knew how Bret had made out in the race. But, imbibing and coherent speech are not always on common terms at the post race celebration.

Turned out to be one of the more comical moments of the weekend.

The Muddy Buzzard.